The Morning Wasn’t Better

You know I need a life when I am listening to the morning show on the Fan, and all I can think is, what would Mike S say? Did anyone catch Kypreos on the fan this am? Man was that segment BRUTAL…. I am not surprised it isn’t on the website. I am telling you, this wicked winter is taking its toll on everyone..

Kypreos made one good point. Toskala has been the disappointment of the season. He was the one guy who should have been strong and Burke is probably questioning what to do with him big time. I think Nick got caught up in his packing for Montreal when he said the one good thing about Toskala is that he is locked up with a long term contract (and no, there wasn’t any sarcasm)

Landry’s big contribution to the segment was an impression of big Nick- that was ok, certainly not funny.

Stellick asked Kypreos a great question which Nick did everything but answer. The question was, looking at Michael Ryder from the Bruins last night, who had a rough go of it in Montreal last year, makes you think that Ron Wilson and Brian Burke are scouring other rosters looking for guys who are having a tough time with a current coach/team thinking that they can turn a guy around, who, Nick would be a good example of those types of guys for Leaf fans to look out for? Wow, what a great question right? One that a guy like Kypreos should be able to answer. He didn’t come anywhere near answering it. All he did was restate the fact that the Michael Ryder had a rough time in Montreal last year and that being reunited with Claude Julien has been very good for him. Thanks for coming out Nick.

Then he was asked if Grabovsky needs to play a little bigger (in fairness this was Landry’s question) in that he appears to get pushed off the puck pretty easily. Good question that I have heard a few times. Again instead of answering it, Nick explained that Grabovsky hasn’t earned his ice time, that he should be relegated to 4th line duty until he has earned 1st or 2nd line status let alone time on the power play. I think that is a very far sighted answer to a near sighted problem, but it is IRRELEVANT. Kypreos would make an awesome politician. His answers are all about his agenda, and not in any way related to the question(at least this morning)

Then, the topic became the all star game. Stellick said to Kypreos, you (Nick) blame Bettman for everything, now the all star game is coming, revenues from the game are split between the league and the players and the marquee players are choosing not to go (not those who are injured). Kypreos, again ignored the question and went on to rip the event. He said it should go back to the way it used to be and not have fans vote. When he was asked about players not going, he said they shouldn’t go. When Stellick said that he admired a guy for being honest (and I don’t remember who the player was) in saying, I am not going because I don’t want to go as opposed to lying and saying I am “injured” Big Nick ripped Stellick for admiring a guy for being honest. Big Nick then contradicted himself about 4 different ways about what the game should be before essentially saying the game is a total joke and not worth watching, let alone attending. When the guys reminded him that he was going for Sportsnet he said “Oh yeah riveting TV”…Now, if I am David Akande and I am paying for Nick to go to Montreal, I haul his ass back and say, you know what, stay home. Kypreos wants players to just say, I am not going and not give a reason. He should do the same thing. If you have to go, just say nothing to denigrate the product. I just can’t imagine his bosses are overly enamored with him telling people to not bother watching their coverage. Can you imagine if you are the head of marketing for one of Sportsnet’s clients (all-star or otherwise) and you heard this guy telling people not to bother watching? If it were me, I would call Akande and say, pull my ads, your guy says your coverage of the event isn’t worth watching….

The fan had a huge night last night. I hope it can continue later. After this am, I am not hopeful.

By the way, did anyone catch Rick Dudley in between the 2nd and 3rd periods on 640’s broadcast of the game? Great interview (bias). It was so good that the fan had him again on their after hours show (where he is a frequent guest). I am a huge Dudley fan. I am not sure there is anyone better out there who can speak about the game, those in it and how to spot and evaluate talent.

Quotes Of The Day

“Therrien is on thin ice. While former Toronto coach Pat Quinn is considered the top candidate to replace Therrien, TSN analyst Pierre McGuire shouldn’t be ruled out as a possible replacement.” Bruce Garrioch

“Aside from moving the obvious candidates, general manager Brian Burke is going to have to decide which of his future second-line centres, Matt Stajan or Mikhail Grabovski, have to go. You can keep one, but it’s superfluous to hang on to both” Steve Simmons

“After all the damage, internally and externally, you have to feel good for Jason Blake, who finally is playing the kind of hockey that made him rich”Steve Simmons

First the Garrioch quote. I am confused. Is this a joke. When was the last time McGuire coached? Do people not remember what just happened with Melrose? I don’t see Mcguire giving up the tv gig anytime soon.

I totally agree with Simmon’s on the first quote. I will address this in a later post….

Lastly, I do feel good for Blake. It looks like someone has finally gotten inside his head and forced him to work. It is nice to see a guy coming close to his expected performance. Given that he is, the minute you can unload him for prospects or picks Burke should….

Quote of the Day

“I think he is not Belarussian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarussian guys,” Grabovski said. “I don’t know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we’ll go in the street and every minute of every day I’ll wait for him and we’ll fight.”

I was wrong with my prediction- he got suspended. There is no question he pushed the linesman. With regards to 3 games, I am told the rules stipulate that 3 games is the minimum for such an infraction…

Having said that, this quote would be better if it were in the voice of Denis Lemieux

My Allergies They Bother Me....

Quotes of the Day

Something in the water tonight I think. A very strange evening as people saying all kinds of stuff making us raise our eyebrows…

Craig Hartsburg, “Those guys cost us the game, you try to trust your best players and they cost you the game, it’s happened before.” Those guys are Spezza and Alfredsson. Their line was a minus 10 tonight.

Folks, this guy is TOAST and he knows it. Stick a fork in him, he is done. The only question is, is this a solo execution or is Mr. Murray going with him? I would not be the least bit surprised that by the time I am sitting in my kids parent/teacher conference tomorrow am that this changeover is underway. Remember what the Sens owner did the Leafs dressing room after being beaten in the playoffs???? I wouldn’t want to see what his house looks like right now.

Watters: ” I wouldn’t trade Tomas Kaberle straight up for Dany Heatly”

Ummmmmm. Ummmmmm. There has to be more to this story. You know I am not a huge DH fan. I am not going to get into that again. I am alone in thinking that Brian Burke would make that move in a split second??? That would be a no-brainer. Would Wilbur trade Blake for DH? Hollweg?? Mayers??? Mayers, by the way had his best night as a leaf tonight.

Mike Brophy to Pat Quinn: “I know for a fact you didn’t talk with any other teams about coaching after leaving the maple leafs.
Darren Millard/Pat Quinn (Together): “BOSTON
Brophy/Quinn/Millard:” ____________________________________________”
Enough silence to leave force Pat Quinn, the guest to explain the Boston situation.

What the hell was Brophy thinking??? (I smell a minus/down arrow in the new media power rankings). Even my dog new about the Boston story. Good on Pat Quinn for rescuing the moment. Please land in Pittsburgh PQ.

The constant bickering, eye rolling between Nik Kyrpos and Bill Watter is PRICELESS….I would love to hear these guys off the record speaking about the other..By the looks in their respective eyes whenever the other is speaking is awesome!!! Seriously folks, watch a segment…

Oh, and what is the over on the number of mentions, comments, questions about Grabovsky getting fined/suspended for shoving the lineman? Will it be higher then the number of times Hogan mentions grey cup visits tomorrow, or the money references Richie MacLean makes on his show tomorrow? It says here Grabs gets fined, but not suspended (if anything at all).I for one think he played a great game by the way. Yeah he got too riled up, but at least he should a little bit of heart. Interesting clip seeing Brad May trying to pull him back a bit. I thought May looked AOK in Maple Leaf blue and white and not too bad in the fight either.

McCown/Brunt & Burke Why PTS is #1

If you want to know why McCown is number one in this market, listen to his interview of Bryan Burke last night. It is just stuff you don’t get anywhere else. I give a ton of credit to Bob and Stephen Brunt for this one. It was an excellent interview, they asked all the right questions at all the right times. Kudos to Burke too. Here is a sloppily written account, but I highly suggest you listen to it yourself.

Q So are you comfortable that you have a sense what this team is and what it needs?

A Yes, from the start i said that we are too small and that has proven to be our biggest need. The second thing is consistency. If you said to me how is your goaltending? On some nights its adequate, it’s been terrific and on other’s it’s not. Our defensive play, on some nights we are a unit we play hard, the next we don’t. We need a consistent approach

Q Is this a time now where you are still looking at how the teams play or are you asking yourself are the players you have, are these guys good enough?

A The latter-I inherited Ron Wilson, i respect Ron, our coaching is sound, its a good system, it’s entertaining we aren’t trapping- i like the coaching- The question now is do we have the right people to execute that system.

Q You have a long term project here. How much of your brain in focused on the short term like the brad may deal which is obviously is a short term thing and how much is like a chess game where it is three or four moves away and will pay dividends next year and into the future?

A This franchise has suffered from, and that’s a great question and a fair one… This franchise has suffered from a series of short term fixes and patch work approaches, patches on tires, I am going long term here and our goal is to win a championship. That being said, I do have a responsibility to season ticket holders and sponsors to play the hardest and to win the most games we can. With Brad May it’s not just the toughness element which he does bring, but more importantly the leadership he brings to the locker room where the younger guys can see a guy who prepares properly and approaches the game properly and has the leadership skills.

Q You like him, it’s the 3rd time you got him – he is 37 – leadership can be tricky sometimes can he bring those things to a new group mid stride?

A That is the hardest part of being a leader, is coming into a new group mid term and trying to be a leader- But i have seen Brad operate before and the one guy on our staff, Keith Acton pushed harder for this then anyone else…This isn’t a Brian Burke project, I love him as a player but he brings other things, he is very positive and that is very important to a young team, he never comes in a pouty, or in a bad mood. Every day is a great day to Brad May. I want a positive influence for those kids, a guy who pays a terrible price to win on the ice, a guy who practices hard. He is not a great hockey player, but he does a lot of things well and i think our team needs to see those things, how to prepare and act like a professional hockey player.

Q I spent a lot of time talking about the value of draft choices the direction this franchise is going and i don’t want to get into a fight about what cliff did, because I endorse most of what he did, but he did give up a lot of draft choices and well this probably isn’t much, it’s a 6th round draft pick, but I want to ask you, not you specifically, but what value do you put on draft choices as you try and build and get the buidling blocks in place, which is more important draft picks or free agents, what is your philosophy?

A My philosophy has always been that draft picks are very important. This changes as you get close. When we were close in anaheim I traded everything I could to get Chris Pronger because I was close. Ken Holland and Doug Wilson will deal draft choices because they are close. IDifferent weights you place on things depending on where you are. Right now they are the lifeblood of our team. You are right, there is no point on arguing with what Cliff did. He did some good things. He is a wonderful guy and a friend of mine. I have always tired to avoid throwing rocks at any of the guys who went before me. That is very important. People say that Cliff traded some picks and yes he did, but you will never here me complain about it. First because I don’t like guys who complain, nobody out there listening wants to listen to Bryan Burke complain and second he did what he did to make the team better. We have to do what we can to replace those picks. They are absolutely vital in a cap system. Teams that are successful have kept their picks and drafted wisely. Especially now, after the Edmonton offer sheet everyone locks them up after their entry contract so you are never going to get an elite young young kid..

Q Do you have any sense or confidence that you can start that process of reclaiming these picks before the deadline or is it going to take longer ?

A Yes we have one guy that any team would love to draft in any position in Schenn. Grabovsky is a good pick too, no one is going to quarrel that move either. But I am confident we can move some assets and start to replenish these picks, yeah sure.

Q As you approach that time- and you mention the inconsistency, what do you really like-what do you say, there is something we can hold on to there?

A if you asked me at the 7 minute mark of the first period of last night’s game when the shots were 10-0 I would have not said many names. I don’t call my team out very often. You know that, I try to be very loyal to my team. I was very sour last night and I would have made any player who was on the ice available with the exception of Luke Schenn.

I know what people are saying, why are you dealing the lifeblood of the franchise away for a guy like May? Well he told you why. He obviously has a plan, and he obviously knows exactly what is missing in the room right now. I think it is a huge indictment on Mayers and other veterans in the room. He couldn’t be more clear that there is no one in the room who is doing the little things right. I think we owe it to the guy to sit back and lets things unfold for a bit.

You can listen to the interview here.

Kings/ Maple Leafs Tilt Recap

Funny how the kill on the last penalty seemed to turn the tides of the game. The Kings really took it to the Buds but couldn’t score… That resulted in a sudden shot of confidence in the buds. Early in the 3rd, Stajan scored on the PP to tie the game at 1 and then moments later Mikhail Grabovsky scored to put the buds up 2-1 also on a PP. Interesting stat of the game so far to me anyway, with about 9 minutes to go Ian White leads all Leafs in ice time at just over 20 minutes…what a difference a few weeks makes to a career…. With about 8 minutes to go, Hagman tried to give the game away, but for a great save he would have succeeded. Then Finger dropped a guy in front of the net, taking a cross checking penalty. Say you want about Finger, but hand it to him (sorry) he has been very steady. Ron Wilson rewarded Jason Blake with some extra PK time and man did Blake pay him back with some steady play. Finger had a breakaway coming out of the box and made a hell of a move to get around the goalie before running out of runway….Wow- with Nikolai Kumelin and Mikhail Grabovsky on in the last minute
Jeff Finger buried an empty netter to give the Buds a 3-1 lead.

Big road win behind a huge effort by Toskala and the d- core especially on the penalty kill…

Brian Burke Press Conference-Recap

Best part to me was when he said his teams will “have the proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone truculence and belligerence.”

I will break down more later but for now…here is the play by play:

Richard Peddie:
From the start of the search we said we were looking for a long term builder on and off the ice with established track record Someone who was good at Identifying talent can work with the media and the intense scrutiny there is here. We were looking for someone who could serve as President and GM and someone who is a proven winner.
In Brian Burke we have found someone with a stellar track record- winner as executive and nhl executive whalers- canucks and ducks. He has been successful as an attorney as agent and as a player. He is a long term builder who is going to make up competitive for years to come. He is charged with the order to win our 14th cup.
Peddie also took time to thank Cliff Fletcher who has set the table for Brian to build upon and given the Leafs the luxury to conduct search without time constraints. Cliff will remain as a consultant.
Lastly he thanked Gord Kirke.
Brian Burke:
Said what a great pleasure to be here. He then wanted to say a few words about Anaheim. He wanted to properly say goodbye. This presented an opportunity for him and his wife to be in the same time zone as his kids in 11 years. He then thanked everyone in Anaheim especially the owners.
Coming to Toronto is almost like a dream come true. As he has said before it is like the Vatican if you are a catholic; the centre of the hockey universe- most important in hockey on the planet. He Couldn’t be more excited about the job ahead. The maple leafs are one of the crown jewels in sports and an iconic brand world wide. He just can’t put it into words what the feeling is like. He is truly humbled by it- He is also burden by it’s rich history, the job is equally humbling, exciting daunting and exhilarating.
The job is not going to be easy. Cliff made some positive steps. Changing the GM doesn’t change a lot of things – this is going to take time and patience. Changing the GM doesn’t change the roster – or unrealized expectations.
What it does do is allow you to time to turn the page to a clean start.
Burke’s Philosophy is based upon 3 pillars :
1. Entertaining style- justify the price of the ticket win or lose aggressive pursuit of the puck in all three zones, prefer to possess the puck, answering physical challenges; playing a style that allows younger players to develop in fear free environment
2. Financial and fiscal prudence-at the end of the day it is the fans and sponsors money and we try to spend it intelligently – it’s a cornerstone- doesn’t matter if you are profitable or not, you spend money as wisely as we can, its not my money.
3. Community service – not optional you want to play in a great city like Toronto you will give back to the community or we will find you somewhere else to play. Player will be more active then they have ever been before and if you don’t like it you will not play here.
Within those pillars we believe in a top 6 forward group that has high skill level and the bottom six that have plumber mentality, being physical and blocking shots. Same with defense, the top 4 are skilled and the bottom 2 are plumbers. He has great respect for the plumber groups
He believes you build team from net out.
His teams all have the proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone truculence and belligerence .
He is a players gm- players are both the best people and athletes in pro sports
Usually when you take over a team you have to take the coach is there. He couldn’t be happier to take over a team with Ron and his assistants
He and Wislon share same philosophies.
In college Wilson was the star and Burke won the academic award every year.
He believes in giving people(players and staff) an opportunity to prove themselves –
Cliff has a job here as long as he wants one….Will talk to Cliff on the roadtrip.
He has a lot of respect for Joe Nieuendyk, everyone will have chance to show they want to belong and to fit in.
The 1st step is to familiarize himself with the team, you think you know a team and he has years of reports on this team but you don’t know it until they are your team. Burke is Going on the road trip.
For those who think a trade is coming soon they need to now that the NHL Christmas trade freeze kicks on the 19th,. Burke believes that players don’t get traded at Christmas time unless they want too. His freeze goes in on dec 9th….Therefore it is going to be hard to do be in a position to make evaluations and complete a trade before December 9th. He strongly believes that players get holiday time with families…
Second job is to asses the Marlies.
Third he has to spend some time with the scouting staff . He believes their role is to identify character and useful people who can do more then 1 thing well who have tenacity and are coachable high hockey iq…will figure out which scouts can deliver that.
He was then asked what his timeframe to be Stanley cup competitive- He said that in law school he was taught that when you don’t know the answer , answer, it depends. it depends..
He was asked about Mats Sundin- He thinks its’ unfair to criticize him for not picking- He has more respect for a guy who takes his time to decide instead of someone who figures it out while collecting the pay cheque. However, he figures that the :eafs don’t profile as a team he wants to play with – Sundin has $2 less then god already… so it isn’t about the money, Sundin will end up somewhere where he thinks he can win….Toronto doesn’t fit that profile right now.
Was asked about moving up to get Schenn and trading a pick to get Grabovsky. Anyone who criticized moving up to get Schenn looks foolish- He wouldn’t have moved up based on his reports- so all you have to do is applaud because he has been one of the best rookies in the league.… With Grabovsky- he tried hard to get him. Grabovsky has rewarded cliff’s effort with his play cliff deserves credit for both moves.
When he went to get interviewed on LeafsTV the first thing he did was take off his tie, “This is the last time you see me with a tie”…

The Cupboard Might Not Be Completely Bare

by LT

We heard the saying on numerous occasions last year and through the off season that the Maple Leafs cupboard is bare…meaning, no young talent on the team or in the system to draw on for future success…a bleak outlook to say the least.

I’m not suggesting that it’s time to add some veteran talent as last pieces of the puzzle to win the cup – of course not. But there are some encouraging signs at the quarter pole.  We do have some vs. no young talent.

See below, TSN’s Rookie Power Ranking as of November 25^th….We have 3-players in the top 20.  Do we have a franchise player on the list, no.  But this picture certainly looks better than it did 12 months ago.  And, not included is Luke Schenn….who I think we can all agree is a promising young defenceman.  Add to that Lee Stempniak (not a rookie) and you really start to appreciate the work that Cliff Fletcher has done in a short period of time with his hands tied by the no-movement-clause brigade (I refuse to call them the Muskoka 5).

Again, this post is not to suggest that the re-build is complete – simply that we are thankfully starting to see a ray of hope and that Cliff has done a decent job.  Over to Burke to do what he can to turn a few other Vets into talent for the future.

 

Eric Duhatschek slams Leafs…Again

Must be pretty quite out there in the sports world. A usually reputable reporter has reverted to the same old song and dance in ripping the Buds. You can find the whole store here.

“Let’s see: $14-million for Jeff Finger. $12-million for Niklas Hagman. Sundin’s likely departure. Uncertainty and hard feelings over Bryan McCabe. A second-round draft choice in 2010 for Mikhail Grabovski. Conclusion: The Leafs are overpaying for free agents and mortgaging the future … again. Some things never change.”

Come on Eric. Can’t you do better then that?

This argument is ridiculous. Mortgaging their future? Huh? Please! The money spent on the additional players on a per season basis is so small (see earlier posts for breakdowns). Not one of these moves will prevent “The Moron” or whomever else is running the Leafs from doing anything down the future. The albatross contracts of the past are going going almost gone. Cliff didn’t trade away #1’s, he didn’t give out undeserving NTC’s or NMC’s. The team is significantly younger and cheaper.

Things have changed and the problem is, that isn’t train wreck news which these guys thinks is what you have to write about in order to sell papers.

The Dan Boyle effect on Bryan McCabe leaving the Maple Leafs

Edit- as I write this, news breaks that the Leafs signed Mikhail Grabovski to a one-year contract.

Dan Boyle has, according to many sources agreed to waive his no trade clause this morning. Make no mistake about it, this has ramifications on both the leafs and the league in general. Lots of pundits have opined that there would be tremendous pressure on McCabe not to waive his no trade clause. Clearly, with Boyle going first the road has been paved for others like McCabe to follow.

All along this was about money. McCabe and his agent thought they could strong arm the buds into buying him out. That wasn’t going to happen. In the end, McCabe like Boyle will come to his senses and realize that the best decision for him and his family will be to get out of dodge. The leafs, like the lightning are not the evil empire for asking their respective defencemen to waive their no trade clauses.

McCabe is a victim of the contract he signed. He got big bucks and with that came big expectations. In this market every mistake (which usually ended up in his own net) was magnified. It has become untenable. It simply doesn’t make sense to the leafs or the player for him to continue here. Players who were in similar situations have seen their careers flourish elsewhere, Larry Murphy went on to win Cups with the Red Wings and Jason Smith has had a very nice career in Edmonton.

Attached is this mornings interview with Cliff Fletcher on the Fan 590. I attach it in that I think you can hear in Cliff the reasonableness that was so missing in the last regime. I think if you listen carefully enough you will also here the same thought process with respect to McCabe.

Lastly, I find it odd that he says in the interview that Mats Sundin claimed to have told Cliff that last season was one of his (Sundin’s) most enjoyable. From a career perspective I can see how putting up great numbers would bring satisfaction to him, however form the standpoint of this is a team game and the lack of success the team did not experience makes is a puzzling comment. I would think that with everything that went on, and the finality of 3 years without a playoff birth Sundin would have hated what went on, or maybe hoped that a team leader would.

Cliff Fletcher on the Fan 590 morning show